Spring Break!

For spring break this year, I knew we would travel to New England.  Leah and I have relatives there in my late husband's family, and we hadn't been up in a couple of years.  It was past time to reconnect with everyone and it was going to be a great time to bring Ine up and show her the sites that Massachusetts and Rhode Island had to offer.  My initial plan was to spend half the time in Rhode Island and then travel up to Vermont for a few days to stay with my friend Amy, who was featured in our Philadelphia post, but then I became employed, so returning to Virginia early was required due to my job.  So we only had until Wednesday to cram in everything I wanted to show Ine.

We left on Friday morning around 11:30.  I told both girls they didn't have to go to school for the half day they had, and we packed up and headed out.  We were going halfway on Friday because it is a super long drive and I was worried Ine would get car sick.  Happily, my Uncle Rick lives in Connecticut and we had seen him in February at my mom's wedding, so I got in touch and he offered to let us stay with him for the night. 

Unfortunately, everyone and their brother was on the highway heading somewhere on Good Friday.  I kept saying "Where are you people going!? It's Good Friday!  You should be in church!" but I guess like me, everyone has their own place to get to and Friday seemed like a better bet than Saturday.  So from Baltimore to the New Jersey state line took 4 hours.  It should have taken half that amount of time.  I was going crazy!  My uncle called and I was able to update him on on our non-progress, so everyone knew we were safe, but it was maddening to say the least.

We finally arrived in Norwalk around 7:00.  It was so nice to get out of the car!  My aunt and uncle ordered us pizzas and salads for dinner, we took a tour of their house, and then, frankly, I was exhausted and went to sleep.  I slept SO WELL that night.  It was crazy, even though I was in a full size bed with Leah, it didn't matter. 

The next morning, we got up and had a lovely breakfast.  Ine got to try bagels for the first time and we walked around the outside of the property, and saw the fish in the pond as well as the giant inflatable Easter Bunny they had up, which was a big hit!  Then my uncle suggested we all take a trip to Stew Leonard's.  Ripley's Believe It or Not has called Stew Leonard's "The World's Largest Dairy Store" and it is a really, really fun place to go.  It's kind of like what you'd expect if you crossed a grocery store with Disney World.  So we went over and looked at all Stew's attractions.

Stew Leonard's Norwalk flagship store

Singing butter

When you pull the rope next to the cow, it moos

Singing celery and lettuce

Unfortunately the animals aren't out yet at the little farm, but we found the cutest little cow you ever saw!

Afterwards, we said our goodbyes and headed for the final leg of our trip.  Happily, it was absolutely smooth sailing.  And Connecticut usually seems like a long state to drive across for some reason, but having stopped made it seem not so bad!  As we were driving along, we saw a sign that said something like "Visit the Pez Welcome Center!"  Leah LOVES Pez candies, and in fact at Stew Leonards asked for an Elsa Pez dispenser as a souvenir/treat.  So we thought it would be fun to see what Pez had to offer at its visitor center.  In fact, it is part of the Pez Factory, which I had no idea was in Connecticut.  They have a little museum you can go in, and as part of it, there is a scavenger hunt.  You look through the various displays of vintage and modern Pez dispensers and match them to the pictures on the card, writing down their official names.  At the end you turn your game card in and you get to spin a wheel to win a free Pez dispenser.  It was so fun!  I love little roadside finds like this.  We all had the giggles and considered it quite the adventure.

Back in the car, and towards the end of CT, we stopped and snapped a picture of Ine at the Welcome Center and we stopped again once we crossed into Rhode Island to grab some snacks and I found a Welcome to Rhode Island picture so we grabbed a picture of a picture with that as well.

Thus refreshed, we got snacks (Ine got to try orange slices for the first time!), we headed to our first stop of the day, the Lizzie Borden House.  I know that some of my foreign readers will not know who Lizzie Borden is, but there is a famous schoolyard rhyme that goes a little something like this:

Lizzie Borden took an axe,

And gave her mother 40 whacks,

And when she saw what she had done,

She gave her father 41.

Yes, American schoolchildren are macabre little beasts, but we all know this little rhyme and repeat it endlessly.  Anyway, it is based on a real murder case which took place in Fall River, Massachusetts.  Andrew Borden and his wife Abby were indeed murdered with an axe one fine afternoon, and Andrew's daughter Lizzie was tried for and acquitted of the murder.  Thus the murder remains unsolved today.  Ine loves reading mysteries and her favorite TV show is Castle, which is about NYC detectives solving weird crimes, so I figured a trip to the Lizzie Borden House would be right up her alley.  The house now serves as a bed and breakfast and you can go during the day and take a tour.  We arrived in Fall River about 15 minutes before the tour was going to start, so we took some pictures while we were waiting.

Leah and Ine on the front stoop of the Lizzie Borden House

It's always fun for me to try and figure out which way the jury hangs for the tour guide.  I believe Lizzie is innocent, but I have never had a tour guide who thought she was, and I have now been through the house 3 times.  This trip was no different, our tour guide Danielle clearly thought she was guilty.  I asked her about part way through, and she said as much but that she tried to keep her tours neutral. 

Anyway, there's not too much to say about it, you go through the house with the tour guide and learn about the crimes, what the evidence says happened, you can see the rooms where the family lived and where the murders took place, and you can decide for yourself what you think happened.  Here are some photos from our trip...

These are REPLICAS, but they show the damage Andrew (left) and Abby (right) suffered as a result of their wounds

A replica hatchet on a replica couch in the exact spot Andrew Borden was found dead--no axe or hatchet was ever recovered

Ine in the house

Our tour guide, Danielle, standing on the spot where Abby Borden was murdered

There are a lot of films made about the murders.  This dress was worn by actress Elizabeth Montgomery in one of them

Afterwards, we made a quick stop for lunch and then headed over to my in-laws, Hank and Sheila's in Tiverton RI.  It was so nice to be back with them again!  They made a really nice dinner for us and got to know Ine a bit better, and had lots of fun with Leah as well.

The next day was Easter Sunday.  We woke up in the morning to discover that the Easter Bunny had been to visit.  Both girls got a basket and some bunny ears, so I got a picture of them together.

They looked so cute!  We all had breakfast together and then eagerly awaited the arrival of my sisters-in-law, who came in the early afternoon.  While we were waiting, Hank and Sheila suggested I take the girls down to the local park, where they had a memorial bench installed in my late husband's honor.  Both girls got kites for Easter, so we decided to see if we could get the kites to fly and went down to the park.  Unfortunately, the wind was so strong, both kites immediately broke!  Leah was crying and so upset.  So we went and sat on the bench for a little while, and then headed out to get hot cocoa because it was super cold.  Tiverton is located right on the water, so it's damp and there was a big wind.  There is a sweet little coffee shop called Coastal Roasters, I think, so we stopped and got cocoa and drove over to Grinnell's Beach and sat looking at the water.  Eventually we got out for a few minutes and gathered up some seashells and sand for our various collections before heading back to Hank and Sheila's to warm up.

Ine and her Belgian chocolate brownie

Not a bad view for Easter Sunday!

Easter Sunday was really fun.  My sister-in-law Paula, Hank, and I scattered some eggs in the yard for Leah to find, and she had a wonderful time scampering around the yard with us, my sister-in-law Ellen, and her cousin Ethan, finding eggs full of chocolate and money. 

Ine and Paula

Afterwards we had a big Polish Easter dinner, which was incredible.  Everything was delicious.  At the end of the meal, we had a birthday cake for Leah, since she was turning 6 that week!

It was such a nice day, and we had so much fun being with the family for Easter.  I just loved it.

The next day, we had decided if the weather was decent, we would head out on a little day trip.  I wanted to show Ine two historic areas in particular: Plymouth, MA and Newport, RI.  I figured they would be good locations for her to see some early American history and from my travels with Penny a few years ago, I also knew they were fun!  We decided to go to Plymouth in the morning after breakfast, and drive down to Newport for lunch and afternoon entertainments before heading back to Tiverton for dinner.

Plymouth is famous as the landing site of the Pilgrims, the English settlers who colonized Massachusetts in 1620.  There were Europeans in what is now known as the United States long before them, as the Spanish arrived in St. Augustine, Florida in 1565 and the English arrived in Jamestown, Virginia in 1607.  However, the Pilgrims are famous for inventing Thanksgiving with the Native Americans who already lived here and because that is part of our national lore and holidays, they are probably more famous than any other settlers.  My plan was to come to Plymouth and enjoy the view of Plymouth Rock (which is literally a rock under a protective roof) and then hop aboard the Mayflower II.  As we drove, we saw signs for Dighton Rock, but decided not to stop. (This will be important later.)

We had no trouble finding parking, although there was a large school group of middle or high schoolers surrounding the rock.  So we decided to try the Mayflower II first.  This was the sight that greeted us:

Yup, a pier but no boat.  Since I had taken Penny on the Mayflower II at Easter, I knew good and well that it was supposed to be there, but the winter has been so terrible in New England that the Mayflower II was still in dry dock and probably would be for several weeks.  It was the first in a string of disappointments.

So, we headed for The Rock.  And, as advertised, it's a rock.

It doesn't do anything, it just sort of sits there.  We laughed about it and decided to see what else we could see.  We saw the school group up the hill from the rock, so went up there and found the first burying ground of the Pilgrims who didn't survive the first winter, as well as a statue of Sachem, who was instrumental in helping the Pilgrims survive in the new climate.  Hilariously, Leah refused to have her picture taken with him because "he's not wearing any clothes".

We headed out, and I thought to stop at the Monument to our Forefathers, but our GPS took us some crazy way, and we wound up in the cranberry bogs instead.  It was nice to see them, and such, but there's not much to say and we didn't stop for pictures.  Ine doesn't think she likes cranberries, although she thinks her mom might.

We got to Newport right about noon and were going to go to Yesterday's, my favorite lunch spot, but it was closed.  (Seriously, we had the worst luck on this trip!)  So we headed out to the Brick Alley Pub instead and had a nice lunch.  Afterwards, we headed for Belleview Avenue, but on the way, we saw the church where President Kennedy married then Jacqueline Bouvier.

Ine was not all that impressed.
For those of you who might not know, Newport was the summer residence of some of America's most glittering families during the Gilded Age, which spanned from about 1870-1900.  The Vanderbilts, Astors, and Morgans built "cottages" here and threw glittering parties and lived quite a social scene.  The mansions eventually became far too expensive to maintain as private homes, so they were donated to the Newport Preservation Society, which now operates tours of them.  The Breakers is the largest and most impressive, so it is a must see and you can buy a pass that allows you to see "The Breakers +1" so I let Ine choose which her "plus one" would be.  She eventually chose Rosecliff.

We started at The Breakers.  You are not supposed to take pictures inside "to preserve the mansions for future generations" but I hear that as "we don't want anyone to know what it looks like inside if they haven't paid for it."  In the Breakers, you are on an audio tour at your own pace, so I snapped a few photos anyway.

There was a child's audio tour for Leah and an adult audio tour, but frankly the child's one was much more fun, so Ine and I switched back and forth.  Afterwards, we headed for Rosecliff, but there IS a tour guide there, so getting pictures is a near impossibility.  We found some statues outside, but again, Leah deemed them too naked for pictures.  This is a picture of the back of Rosecliff...

Leah had fun running Ine up and down the stairs in 'races'.  Apparently our trip to the Rocky Steps in Philly really had an impact on her!

Tour completed, we had one last mission, which was to go on the Cliff Walk and Ocean Drive.  The Cliff Walk is a 3 mile trek along the cliffs of Newport, which is built right on the Atlantic Coast.  You get to walk right along the edge of the cliffs, although there IS a fence to prevent accidents.  You get beautiful views of both the ocean and the mansions as you stroll by.  It was quite windy and cold, and before too long, we had a bathroom emergency that required us to duck into nearby Salve Regina University.

My sister went to Salve so I felt totally justified in using their facilities.  We walked back to the car and headed out along Ocean Drive to see the sights...  Which is basically the ocean.

This is one of my favorite spots on the drive, my ambition is to someday own this house on the left hand side.

We continued on to a spot where there are lots of rocks to scramble around on and seashells to collect.  We got out for a few minutes, but it was getting late and we needed to get back for dinner.  But we had a great time out there!  The photo at the top of this post is of all 3 of us on the rocks and is my new favorite picture of our family.

Afterwards, we headed back to Hank and Sheila's for a delicious dinner.  I put Leah to bed, and we watched a movie together.  It was a Nicholas Sparks movie and I hated the ending.  I think Sheila even fell asleep.  We all agreed there were better films out there, but you never know what you'll get with Netflix!  It was fun to watch it together though.

So, we had a day of sightseeing left.  We decided to head up to Boston, get a hotel overnight, do Salem, and then drive like heck back to Virginia the next day.  We bid farewell and thank you to Hank and Sheila, who were wonderful hosts and headed out.  Unfortunately, our bad luck continued.

We decided on the way to stop in and see the famous Dighton Rock.  We followed the GPS and some local signs and came to the Dighton Rock Museum, wherein is contained The Dighton Rock.  It was locked up tighter than Fort Knox.

It is also covered in graffiti.  I'm gathering that not too many people are interested in the Dighton Rock.  So I spied a rock nearby and took a picture of it.  I said, "There, it's a rock, it's in Dighton.  We saw the Dighton Rock!"

Apparently there are some carvings on the real Dighton Rock and no one knows where they came from, but we didn't get to see it.  Very disappointing. 

My big thing I wanted to do (and since I'm usually the mom and planning for everyone else, I decided I would get to choose on activity) was that I wanted to go to Wahlbergers to get lunch.  It was far too early to have lunch, so I decided since Hingham and Quincy aren't too far apart, we would go on down to Quincy and check out the John Adams historical sites before lunch.  We got over to the house, and it was closed.  We drove out to the National Park Service visitors center, and the ranger told us everything is closed for another 2 weeks.  We could watch a movie about John and John Quincy Adams, the first father/son team to be presidents, which we did, but there was nothing we could see, including the grave site, which is unique in that it is the only place you can touch the graves of two presidents at once. 

After the movie, we headed to Hingham and Wahlburgers.  The Wahlberg family is famous for its two sons, Donnie and Mark.  Donnie got his start as a singer with boy band New Kids on the Block, which I was insane for as a teenager, and is now an actor and singer, and Mark was part of Marky Mark and the Funky Bunch and is now an actor as well.  Their brother, Paul, opened Wahlburgers restaurant, which serves up burgers and has spawned its own TV show on A&E, which we have never seen.  Nonetheless, I've heard of it and I really wanted to go.  I ordered the "Originally from Dorchester" burger and Ine couldn't decide, so I ordered her the BBQ Bacon Cheeseburger.  Leah got a hot dog, I think.  They both got milkshakes, although I didn't.

Anyway, the order came and I somehow switched who got which burgers, so Ine got my OFD and I got her BBQ burger, which has led to a cherished family joke.  Every time Ine does some little crazy thing, I say, "First you ate my burger, now this!"  It's good for a laugh. She always feels bad, but in a silly way.

Ine is eating my burger!!!

Afterwards, we headed for Boston.  My plan was to go to the top of the Pru, called the SkyWalk so we could see the whole city, and then start walking the Freedom Trail.  Unfortunately I had cut my toe pretty seriously that morning as we were packing to leave and I didn't think I'd be able to walk, plus it was cold, and it was SNOWING.  We drove into the city, and the Boston drivers have honestly gotten meaner, ruder, and nastier than when I last drove through Boston 4 years ago, so we decided to abandon the car at the Pru and take a trolley tour.

We arrived at the SkyWalk ticket kiosk at 1:30 and saw that they were closing at 2:00 for a private event.  SIGH SIGH SIGH.  We decided to go up anyway and have a look around, and 30 minutes was plenty.

Fenway Park, home of the Red Sox

Cambridge is across the river, and home of such famous institutions as Harvard and MIT

You can barely make out the hatch shell, home of the famous 4th of July concerts

So we left, went down to the lobby and inquired about the trolley tour.  We got tickets, and it was about 2:30 when we finally got on the trolley, and we were told "Oh, the last trolley is at 4:00 today.  Winter hours."  So we decided then and there that we would just stay on the trolley and not hop on and off.  I inquired about Faneuil Hall and Quincy Market, as I wanted to take the girls there for dinner, but was informed they closed at 5:00 and since a) I knew that meant the restaurants would close far earlier and b) we were full of Wahlburgers, I crossed that off my list.

We took the full trolley tour and saw all the important sites.  I snapped exactly one picture of the Massachusetts State House and its golden dome, but I was totally unhappy about the fact that everything was either closed or closing early.

We were told, "Oh, don't worry, your ticket is a 2 for 1 deal, you can ride again tomorrow for free" but at the end of the day after battling Boston traffic to get to our hotel, I asked Ine "based on the tour is there anything you want to go back to Boston to see?" and she very firmly said "NO!"  It was a miserable, cold trip and we were glad to see Boston in our rearview mirror.

We stayed overnight at a Comfort Inn in Danvers.  We arrived around 6:00 and headed out to a local British pub for dinner.  They gave Leah a beautiful birthday cake and we celebrated with a round of Shirley Temples.  She felt like such a big girl, and her common refrain is, "Well, you know I'm six!"  yes, Leah, we all know you are now 6 and quite an adult. hehe  Afterwards, the girls went swimming but due to my toe, I didn't go in.  We all passed out and slept really well that night.

The next morning, we headed to Salem to check out the witch sights.  Salem was infamous for its witch trials in the 1600's.  Some girls began to accuse their neighbors of witchcraft and trials were held wherein people were condemned for being witches.  18 people were hanged and 1 was pressed to death before the hysteria died down and the remaining 'witches' were released. It is a black mark on American history to say the least.  Today, Salem celebrates witches and pagan culture, and embraces its past.  It is a fascinating and fun place to go.  We started off at the Witches Museum, which has a wonderful show--you sit in the midst of an auditorium and watch as different dioramas are lit up and explain the history of the Witch Trials hysteria.  When you arrive, you are greeted in the street by this wonderfully eerie statue of Roger Conant, the first permanent settler of Salem. 

We got to the museum when there was about 15 minutes till the next show started, so we waited patiently and looked at a display of typical Puritan clothing, as well as browsed the gift shop.

Leah enjoyed wearing a witch hat, and apparently I enjoy photographing my own finger.

Afterwards, I asked the girls if they wanted to go to the Witches Dungeon or if they were ready to head back to Virginia, but Leah DEMANDED the Witches Dungeon, so we went over there.  The original Witches Jail was destroyed by Verizon in the 1950s or so when they were building new buildings, so the Witches Dungeon was built some blocks away.  You first watch an introductory theatrical piece, which is very well done and shows the trial while some actresses play both the accused and the accuser.  It's really an amazing piece.  Afterwards, you go into the basement and see what typical cells would have looked like and wander the town a bit.  It is REALLY creepy down there--no light, weird old mannequins, very claustrophobic.  Just horrible.

And so, our time in Salem complete, it was time to head to Virginia.  unfortunately I did not get a picture of Ine with a "Welcome to Massachusetts" sign, the only state we missed.  I was bummed about it, but we really didn't see one in a location that was safe to take the pictures.  I'll have to Photoshop one or something!  On the way back, we stopped for pictures in "Welcome to New Jersey" and "Welcome to Delaware" where we had dinner.

We were so exhausted and ready to be home, we didn't care about anything.  We got home around 11:30 or so, and everyone was in bed and asleep in no time.  It was a wonderful trip full of fun, laughter, and lots of interesting stuff to see.  I'm so glad we made the trip and I'm glad it's over. :)